Mahsum Korkmaz, also known as Agit ( Kurmanji: Egîd) (1956 – 28 March 1986), was the first commander of the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK)'s military forces. Korkmaz moved to Lebanon in 1979 and alongside

Kemal Pir Kemal Pir, also known as Laz Kemal (1952 in Güzeloluk, Gümüşhane Province – 7 September 1982 in Diyarbakır, Turkey) was a Turkish Marxist–Leninist revolutionary and one of the ethnically Turkish founders of the Kurdistan Workers' Party. I ...

was responsible for the recruitment across Turkey. He is known to have led the

15 August 1984 PKK attacks The 15 August 1984 PKK attacks, which were led by Mahsum Korkmaz (known as "Agit"), marked the start of the last phase of Kurdish–Turkish conflict. Since the PKK's second party Congress, which was held from 20 to 25 August 1982 in Daraa, Syr ...

which was the start of the PKK's armed rebellion for Kurdish independence. He was killed by Turkish forces on 28 March 1986. The PKK's main training facility during the 1980s and early 1990s, the

Mahsum Korkmaz Academy The Mahsum Korkmaz Academy is a training camp of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). It was established in 1986 in Helve, a village in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon. It is named after Mahsum Korkmaz, a former commander of the armed wing of the PKK. ...

, which was located in

Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important ...

in Lebanon was named after him. Today, Mahsum Korkmaz is honored in the form of many commemoration days by the Kurdish Movement. In

Lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result o ...

a statue of Korkmaz was erected in a cemetery on 15 August 2014, the 30th anniversary of the 15 August 1984 attack. The statue was subsequently demolished by Turkish authorities. The PKK denied it had ordered to erect the statue in Lice. On 28 March 2017 a statue of Korkmaz was erected in Kobanî.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Korkmaz, Mahsum 1956 births 1986 deaths People from Silvan, Turkey Turkish Kurdish politicians Kurdish military personnel killed in action Members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party Apoists